Announcements

September 9, 2020 at 2:00PM EDT, Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Phase III by Zhiping Weng, hosted by ISCB

The human and mouse genomes contain instructions that specify RNAs and proteins and govern the timing, magnitude, and cellular context of their production. To better delineate these elements, phase III of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project has expanded analysis of the cell and tissue repertoires of RNA transcription, chromatin structure and modification, DNA methylation, chromatin looping, and occupancy by transcription factors and RNA-binding proteins. Here we summarize these efforts, which have produced 5,992 new experimental datasets, including systematic determinations across mouse fetal development. All data are available through the ENCODE data portal (https://www.encodeproject.org), including phase II ENCODE and Roadmap Epigenomics data. We have developed a registry of 926,535 human and 339,815 mouse candidate cis-regulatory elements, covering 7.9 and 3.4% of their respective genomes, by integrating selected datatypes associated with gene regulation, and constructed a web-based server (SCREEN; http://screen.encodeproject.org) to provide flexible, user-defined access to this resource. Collectively, the ENCODE data and registry provide an expansive resource for the scientific community to build a better understanding of the organization and function of the human and mouse genomes.

Hosted by:

• September 15, 2020 at 11:00 AM EDT, Altered RNA Splicing by Mutant p53 Activates Oncogenic RAS Signaling in Pancreatic Cancer by Luisa Escobar-Hoyos, hosted bv iRNA COSI and RNA Society
  
• NEW September 29, 2020 at 11:00AM EDT, Evolutionary origins of the SARS-CoV-2 sarbecovirus lineage responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic by Philippe Lemey, hosted by ISCB
  
• September 30, 2020 at 11:00AM EDT,  RAxML-NG: a fast, scalable and user-friendly tool for maximum likelihood phylogenetic inference by Alexey Kozlov, hosted by EvolCompGen COSI

Deadline: September 14, 2020

Special Sessions will consist of three broad categories:

• Focused workshops on specific research problems in computational biology and bioinformatics
• Software schools, aimed at providing training in new methods
• Activities focused on students and postdocs, or non-academic career opportunities

August 24, 2020 at 11:00AM EDT, Unravelling the Mystery of Orphan Genes to Understand the Origins of Genetic Novelty by Nikos Vakirlis
hosted by EvolCompGen and SMBE

What explains the presence of a gene only in the genome of one species and not in any other?  Species-specific protein-coding genes, also known as orphans, can arise "from scratch" from previously non-genic loci, through a process known as de novo gene emergence. How exactly the evolutionary transition from non-gene to functional gene unfolds is unclear. Can such denovo emerging genes increase an organism's fitness, and if so how? Orphan genes can also result from extensive sequence divergence of ancestral genes, which can eventually erase all similarity of a gene to its homologues in other species, a process even less well understood than de novo emergence.  I will present novel findings which advance our understanding of both these evolutionary mechanisms and bring us a small step closer to a complete picture of the origins of genetic novelty.

Hosted by:

Deadline:  September 14, 2020
Special Sessions will consist of three broad categories:

• Focused workshops on specific research problems in computational biology and bioinformatics
• Software schools, aimed at providing training in new methods
• Activities focused on students and postdocs, or non-academic career opportunities